Song of a Poor Pilgrim
Roses all the rosy way!Roses to the rosier westWhere the roses of the dayCling to night's unrosy breast!
Thou who mak'st the roses, whyGive to every leaf a thorn?On thy rosy highway IStill am by thy roses torn!
Pardon! I will not mistakeThese good thorns that make me fret!Goads to urge me, stings to wake,For my freedom they are set.
Yea, on one steep mountain-side,Climbing to a fancied fold,Roses grasped had let me slideBut the thorns did keep their hold.
Out of darkness light is born,Out of weakness make me strong:One glad day will every thornBreak into a rose of song.
Though like sparrow sit thy birdLonely on the house-top dark,By the rosy dawning stirredUp will soar thy praising lark;
Roses, roses all his song!Roses in a gorgeous feast!Roses in a royal throng,Surging, rosing from the east!
Words in this poem
- rosier n.
- A rosebush; roses, collectively. [F., fr. L. rosarius of roses. Cf. Rosary.]
- gorgeous a.
- Imposing through splendid or various colors; showy; fine; magnificent. [OF. gorgias beautiful, glorious, vain, luxurious; cf. OF. gorgias ruff, neck handkerchief, and F. gorge throat, and se pengorger to assume airs. Cf. Gorge, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song of a Poor Pilgrim is in the public domain. This text is taken from The poetical works of George MacDonald in two volumes — Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #9984; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: George MacDonald, Song of a Poor Pilgrim, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/song-of-a-poor-pilgrim.html, id L22500.
Form and metre
Song of a Poor Pilgrim is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAB wayA · westB · dayA · breastB
- 2 ABAB whyA · thornB · iA · tornB
- 3 ABAB mistakeA · fretB · wakeA · setB
- 4 ABAB sideA · foldB · slideA · holdB
- 5 ABAB bornA · strongB · thornA · songB
- 6 ABAB birdA · darkB · stirredA · larkB
- 7 ABAB songA · feastB · throngA · eastB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Roses all the rosy way! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Roses to the rosier west | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Where the roses of the day | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Cling to night's unrosy breast! | 7 | ······· |
| Thou who mak'st the roses, why | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Give to every leaf a thorn? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| On thy rosy highway I | 7 | ··/˘/·· |
| Still am by thy roses torn! | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Pardon! I will not mistake | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| These good thorns that make me fret! | 7 | ······· |
| Goads to urge me, stings to wake, | 7 | ······· |
| For my freedom they are set. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Yea, on one steep mountain-side, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Climbing to a fancied fold, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Roses grasped had let me slide | 7 | /˘····· |
| But the thorns did keep their hold. | 7 | ······· |
| Out of darkness light is born, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Out of weakness make me strong: | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| One glad day will every thorn | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Break into a rose of song. | 7 | ······· |
| Though like sparrow sit thy bird | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Lonely on the house-top dark, | 7 | /˘····· |
| By the rosy dawning stirred | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Up will soar thy praising lark; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Roses, roses all his song! | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Roses in a gorgeous feast! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Roses in a royal throng, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Surging, rosing from the east! | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.